Frugal Friday With Marsha -- Christmas

Christmas is now just 3 days away.  Usually we do our family Christmas gathering on Christmas Eve, or a day or 2 before depending on my brother's schedule as a fire captain.  This year we are actually doing our gathering ON Christmas day in the afternoon.

As usual, I got a late start on the gifts that I made for everyone.  A list of 30 people to give to.  28 of those are getting covered composition notebook covers.  I sewed a total of 35 of the covers (the remainder goes to my quilt guild to put in the boutique at the quilt show).

Each notebook also comes with a pen and a mechanical pencil in the front pocket.  I bought a package of either one each time I shopped at Dollar Tree until I had enough.

I am still in the process of finishing up the stuffed Care Bears for baby Jordan and baby Amelia.  I was blessed to find that panel at a rummage sale where I bought a whole stack of fabric for just $4.
In fact, some of that fabric also was used to make the notebooks.

The other fabrics for the notebooks came from my stash and from a member's sale at the evening quilt guild where I paid 50 cents for each fat quarter.  I also did buy one yard of fabric from the markdown section at the quilt shop.

Buying a little here and a little there is how it has to be done, watching for bargains all the time!

Excuse the same picture as what I posted in my WIP Wednesday post, but I didn't get any others taken.
You will see the Car Bears on the table.  The box is the notebooks I had wrapped up already, plus a stack still to wrap, plus the extras.  You can see the pens and pencils laying there. (The towels on the table are hopefully going to be made into the double towel scarves by Saturday evening as a lady at church has a friend that wants to buy them for gifts if I can get them done.

My wrapping paper somehow got wet, but I used it anyway.  I just can't let anything go to waste, and there was no money to buy new!

I pulled out my tote--the tote where I stash gifts as I find them throughout the year.   I had Eggtastics for most all adults (bought at Dollar Tree for just $1 each)
I had some small things for the children.  I was worried as I didn't have enough for 2 of the teen boys.  I then remembered that I had the miniature Jenga and dominoes that I had picked up at Dollar Tree one day just because I thought they were cute.  Whew!  Just what I needed to fill in the rest of their boxes.   Not much in each box, but it's something extra to go with their notebooks.



I wasn't really going to talk about food this week (believe it or not!), but I don't want you to forget to get your Friday Freebie.

Free Barilla Ready Pasta at Kroger & Affiliates


I also want to talk a little about our "baking day" that my 3 daughters and I had.  We made a day and evening of it on Wednesday to get together and make our treat boxes that we give to each person.    I had boxes that I bought last year half price after Christmas from Dollar Tree and my oldest daughter had a few larger boxes too that she bought this year.
I made  the Ritz crackers with peanut butter in the middle and coated in chocolate.  Heather made banana bread, which she sliced, and she made peanut clusters. She also made "Puppy Chow".   Elizabeth made the treats where you put a Rolo candy on a pretzel and top it with a Pecan half.  She also made peanut butter cookies with Hershey Kisses on top.   Jasmine helped where she was needed.
Each of 31 people get 2 of each thing that we made, plus the bag of Puppy Chow.

For our family Christmas gathering, we each bring food to share.  I can't wait to give these Christmas tortilla chips a try. 

CHIPS AWAY! HOMEMADE CHRISTMAS TORTILLA CHIPS

I have gotten really wordy today, so if you are still reading, thanks so much!   I will close by wishing you all a Merry Christmas!!  (and, don't forget to link up your frugal posts this week too)


glitter-graphics.com

Frugal Friday With Marsha-- Christmas is Past

Christmas is wonderful, but I always breath a sigh of relief once the holiday is over.  It's such a busy time getting ready for all of the church and family events.......and preparing gifts.

You know that I made the drawstring backpacks for everyone on my list.  Everyone was 26 people both children and adults.  I needed a new bag, so gifted one to myself too.   I made so many that I have 9 left to list for sale in my etsy shop.

The beauty of making the bags was that I had a lot of time (and love) put into the sewing, but very little money.  Most of the fabrics were given to me and a small amount of the fabric I bought at yard sales or estate sales for very little money.  It proved to be a great stash buster of my fabric as well although there is still plenty in my craft room.

I didn't think to take a picture, but I got a great deal on the candy that I put in everyone's bags too.
I used shopkick while I waited at Walmart to get the oil changed on my car.  With the few points I already had in the app and what I got while waiting I ended up being able to get $7 in Target gift cards.
This prompted me to know that I needed to buy my candy at Target.  I went to work and printed coupons for some of the candy---from Swagbucks and Inboxdollars so I will earn an additional 10 cents for each coupon that I printed and used----I used 2 coupons.
I put the Target Cartwheel app back on my phone and found additional percentage off on the candy I planned to buy.
Then, when I arrived at Target I found a one day special that day of an additional 25% off all candy!!
I ended up with over $30 worth of candy and paid less than $10 for it.

For people such as my brother, sister-in-law, niece, nephew, children's significant others etc, I came up with the idea to make up little desk gift sets for each of them.
I shopped Dollar Tree and bought index cards, small notebooks, pencils, and pens.  I spent $8 plus tax.
I used paper clips from home and bookmarks that I already had made and added those along with index cards, a pencil, a pen and a small notepad into a cellophane bag.

Other gifts for my children and grandchildren came out of my stash that I gathered all year long.


As for shopping after Christmas, I only hit Dollar Tree to see what I could get for 50 cents each.  I spent less than $10 but came home with gift boxes of all sorts.  Boxes is what I was short on this year for wrapping.


How was your Christmas?  What did you do to make it a frugal one?

Frugal Friday With Marsha---Christmas is Almost Here

I have spent a lot of time this morning again trying to get pictures that I want off of this disc.  I thought it was my reader, but when I put in other discs they read fine.  Sigh....  I can't share more crafts that I have made as gifts.

Let's talk about some of the deals that I've gotten lately towards this Christmas.
I have been following the hashtags over on TSU of freebies, coupons, Target, Walgreens, etc.
I love it there and so many share the deals in posts!
(p.s.  If you haven't joined TSU yet and would like to, my link is  https://www.tsu.co/marsha32  It's like facebook only ad revenue is shared with the members.)

I was able to get 2 movies at Target for $4 each---Rio 2 Sing a Long DVD and the Home Alone Movie pack for $3.99 and $4 between the sale, $5 printed coupons, and an additional 10% off using Cartwheel.  Plus I printed the 2 coupons from swagbucks so will earn 20 points (20 cents) there for printing and using them.

As I showed you last week, my grown children pretty well expect a health and beauty box from me each year.  This year I don't have as much because I dwindled down to nothing with my coupon shopping.   However, Target has a deal to buy 4 products and get back a $5 Target card.  I had coupons for each of the 4 items as well.  So, I was able to get a couple body washes, and a hairspray for gifts.

I also did another Target deal--buy 2 razors and get a $5 Target card, which I also had a printed out coupon, again from swagbucks, for buy 1 package get one free.  The razors were $9.99 per package meaning I paid that for 2 packages and then got the Target gift card to spend on something else.  So, 2 are getting razors.

Target had the Purell small hand sanitizers buy 3 get 1 free, and I also had coupons.  I did that deal twice, so 8 people are getting those in their Christmas bags.

Can you tell that I love Target????   I earn Target cards through the shopkick app, the PerkTV app, and through swagbucks as well as the ones I am getting for purchases.  Target is providing a whole lot of my Christmas this year.

I think that is enough of my deals for this week as my post is getting really long.
How is Christmas shaping up for you?  What deals are you finding?

I look forward to any posts you would like to share in the linky (and they don't have to be shopping posts--any frugal related post will do)

Red and Gold Christmas Ornaments Xmas Tree Stamp by Sandyspider
View other Christmas Stamps

An InLinkz Link-up

Frugal Friday With Marsha ---A Frugal Christmas

My computer is still not reading my picture disc for some reason.  The disc has pictures of crafts that I've made as gifts that I hadn't gotten around to building into a lenses.   Since I can't access those pictures, this week I am going to share blog posts from a few years back instead.
I did a series of posts on my frugal Christmas that year.   Each picture will be clickable to the actual blog post if you are interested in checking the full post out.  Each post will talk of costs and such.


Steak boxes filled with art supplies for each grandchild.  The supplies were all bought before school started when they have the 5, 10 and 25 cent sales!

Health and Beauty boxes for my adult children and their significant others.   Of course everything in the boxes was bought throughout the year for a little bit of nothing with sales and coupons.

Fabric bags made a filled.  Breakdown of what is in each bag and the costs are in the post.  I did buy the fabrics for the bags at Walmart, but each bag only took half of a yard to make.

Hot pads made with scraps of fabric leftover from making quilts.

And last, but not least, Christmas baking.   Holiday baking isn't always frugal....or cheap.  I make boxes for lots of people and families.  You might want to click over and see just how I made that year possible!

  I hope you have enjoyed the frugal Christmas tour.  This, is typical of my Christmas every year.  This particular year I just got motivated and shared!
I look forward to what you will share this week.

 

Snow Family Ornament by KimsChristmasStuff
Create customized christmas tree ornaments at zazzle.com.

An InLinkz Link-up

Frugal Friday With Marsha 11/28/14--Crafts as Gifts

I hope this find that everyone had a good Thanksgiving weekend and that your holiday weekend is going well.    Are you out shopping Black Friday?   I'm afraid I would be if I had money, but it seems I can't ever remember that I need to save money throughout the year to have some to try to catch the really good deals!



This week I am continuing to share different things I have made and given as gifts.  I'm sure enjoying sharing them and the memories that go with them.

Just about every adult got a hot pad from me in my early years of quilting.  I think I made these the following Christmas after making all thekids and grandkids quilts.   Guess what....I have made more for this year that I will share in a later post too for this year.

Every year I make up sacks for everyone, both children and adults.   Two years ago I decided to make them more personal and turn them into a family craft event.  The first year I had my youngest daughter help me make them and counted it for some art time in her homeschool.  Last year I pulled out the big table and made it a Saturday evening project with 5 of the grandchildren.   I plan to do the same this year.
We use Christmas cards from years past and then we have the ribbon and stampers.

This actually concludes all of the photos that I had in squidoo lenses.  I have lots of other pictures available to share yet that never made it to a lens, plus gifts from this year, so fear not.  :)

An InLinkz Link-up

My Frugal Christmas 2010 Part 5

I am going to include my baking and food making this year as part of my frugal Christmas, which I will explain below.

Normally I wouldn't consider the food goodies to be frugal.  I usually would have spent more money on food items than I did on all the rest of the gifts!  In past years, I've had food stamps, so there was no actual cash going out of my pocket.  I'm sure that's why all those years ago I even started baking bread and cookies and making some kind of candies and such.

I was worried this year as to how I was going to do the baking.
Here is a photo of the total of 11 boxes I fixed up.....whew!  got them done about 1 pm this afternoon.

Now for the fun part.  The Lord works in mysterious ways and does provide!!
I was chosen to do a giveaway through myblogspot with Chex cereal and Kroger.  The prize package included a $25 Kroger card to make my favorite Chex cereal holiday recipe.  I've been making the Muddy Buddies for a few years now.  These were TOTALLY paid for, including the Ziploc bags with the gift card!  Plus, there was some left over for a few other groceries as well.

I "cheated" this year on the cookies.  I used Krusteaz cookie mixes.  They were on sale at my store for .99 a box and there were $1 coupons out!   I had 6 coupons, and therefore got 6 boxes of cookies mix free (just paid the sales tax).   I did peanut butter and frosted sugar cookies (powdered sugar for the frosting was left over from making the Muddy Buddies)

Then, I won a blog giveaway for a $25 Del Monte gift certificate good on fresh fruits and veggies.  The bananas for the banana bread all came from that (along with 3 pineapples and 9 large tomatoes).

Steve bought the ingredients I was missing.....1 dozen eggs, 2 boxes of stick margarine and a bag of brown sugar.

And, even the boxes I used I didn't pay much for.  They were all part of a larger bag full of the boxes, plus some gift wrap that I picked up at my church Christmas fundraising sale for just $1!

So.....how did I do?  I want to say again, that God works in mysterious ways...and here's proof that he listens to prayers and does provide!

Here is wishing all my readers a very Merry Christmas!!

My Frugal Christmas 2010 Part 4

As the last of my banana bread for this season is baking, I thought I would get part 4 of my frugal Christmas this year posted.

It seems I've been working on these hot pads for months...I'm sure it's only been a couple of months.

I used leftover materials from the quilts that I gave my kids and grandkids last year.  I hope you will visit my squidoo lens all about them at Blankets For Christmas.

When I was cutting the material last year for the quilts, I was throwing away the smaller pieces of fabric.  It was actually my boyfriend that pointed out as to why I wasn't making 2 inch squares to use some time later.  Well, go Steve!  
I had what seemed like piles of them in my dresser drawer.


While we were at Wal-Mart one day there was some of the Insulbrite material in the remnant bin.  I picked it up quickly, knowing I had been wanting to make hot pads/pot holders with those small squares.  I don't remember the exact cost, but it was right around $6.

I also did pay $1.97 for the package of plastic rings that I sewed to the back of each one.

All of the women on my list are getting a set of 2 this year.  My daughter's boyfriend is also getting a set since he recently bought a house.  (Can't wait to see his reaction when he opened them  he he)


What do you think?   Sure looks like a load of them when I put them all down for the photo once they were done!

I'm thinking of doing a part 5 with my Christmas goodies, but I'm not sure yet.  It's turned out to be more frugal than most years, so I probably will  :)   Just wish me luck on getting all the baking done this week!

My Frugal Christmas 2010 Part 3

Welcome to part 3 of my frugal Christmas this year.

By accident I had discovered making the fabric bags when someone contacted me asking if I could make them.  From there it blossomed to me making one for each of 5 grandchildren for their birthdays this year.  Filled with goodies of course.

I decided that for Christmas I would make my other 2 grandchildren, as well as my niece and nephew each one as well.

Below is the photo of just the bags--Thomas for my 3 yr old grandson, Cash--Scooby Doo for my 9 yr old grandson, Tristian---pink and brown sparkly for my 11 yr old niece---and KU for my 16 yr old nephew.

Below is the photo with the contents in each.  I now have these wrapped and ready to go.

 I'm not sure how well you can see, but the body wash and body spray I had gotten at Walgreen's using coupons and receiving back full price in register rewards.  The deoderant was part of a sale and coupon deal at the grocery store  and I paid just 5 cents for it.

My 9 yr old grandson is getting the same school supplies that the other are getting in a box, just inside his bag instead.

My niece is getting a Teddy Bear that I paid $1.79 for at a close-out store, body spray I paid $1 for, a ruler that was 5 cents, and body wash that I just paid sales tax on after sale and coupon.

My 3 yr old grandson is getting 2 tray puzzles and an activity book boubht at Walgreen's 3 for $1.  Another activity book I paid 25 cents for on clearance.  A box of crayons that I paid 25 cents or less for and a Tonka tractor that I paid .50 for at a yard sale.

As far as the bags....each takes 1/2 a yard of material.  The most expensive was the KU licensed material at $3 plus.  The Scooby Doo was $2.24 and the brown and pink was $2.22.  The Thomas material was given to me by a gal at church.

I strive on finding bargains, and I love making home made Christmas gifts.  These fulfill both!

Part 4 will be the hot pads I am almost done with!  Stay Tuned!

My Frugal Christmas 2010 Part 2

Part 1 were boxes for the kids.  Part 2 are boxes that adults get from me.

Any of you that follow me know that I shop Walgreen's all throughout the year getting good deals with register rewards and coupons.  A lot of what Walgreen's offers are health and beauty aids.  All of my adult children, and their boyfriends and girlfriend expect a health and beauty aid box from me.  This year they are even fuller than usual.

Each of the men get a body wash, a razor a deoderant and dental floss this year.  Each woman gets a razor, or package of razors, deoderant, dental floss, a bar of Neutrogena face soap and a body wash.
For the men other things are mixed in...the box in the photo has shave gel, where another box has body spray.  For the women some get lip balms or gloss and body spray, some just the lip or spray.  

As I said in Part 1, I didn't keep track of what I paid as I should.  I do know that I only paid sales tax after sale and coupon for each of the dental floss (7 cents)  The Right Guard deoderants for the guys only cost me 5 cents each plus the sales tax after sale and coupons.
Some of the body washes are the same....just sales tax.   The majority of the rest I used a coupon for in conjunction with getting full price, or close to it back in register rewards.

Stay tuned for Part 3

 

My Frugal Christmas 2010 Part 1

I thought I would share with my readers some of my Christmas.  Having lived poor all my life, all of my Christmas' as an adult have had to be frugal.  

I am one of those who buys all throughout the year with coupons, sales, clearance, at yard sales etc.  I also make things each year.

The one thing I don't do, that I should, is to keep track of what I am spending that will be used for gifts.  I started to a few years ago then fizzled out.

Below you will see an example of art sets that the grandchildren are getting this year.   Each year at the beginning of the school year, we all know that Walgreen's, Office Max, Wal-Mart etc all have supplies that you can buy cheaply.   Nothing in these boxes did I pay  more than 25 cents for, and the majority of it I paid from 1 cent to 10 cents for!  

Inside each box is a folder with 40 sheets of notebook paper, a spiral notebook, a ruler, a box of 24 count crayons, a protractor, ever sharp pencils, pencils,  pens, bottle of glue, a glue stick and a sharpie marker.   The oldest 4 grandchildren do get a box of colored pencils.  I didn't have enough markers, so each box I had was split in half and put among the boxes.   I made a total of 6 of these boxes.   What was left I split up between my neice and my 3 yr old grandson.

 Stay tuned for Part 2